Kraft Hockeyville 2006 debuts March 29

Canada is abuzz with hockey fever and new CBC series Kraft Hockeyville is out to capture the town that exemplifies just that. The seven-part, hour-long show will debut on Wednesday, March 29 at 8 p.m. live from Kingston, Ont. Host Cameron Bancroft will be joined by special guests musician Colin James, actor Jason Priestley and hockey godfather Don Cherry. At the end of the series run, the winning Canuck community will win a $50,000 from the Home Depot for upgrades to the town's hockey arena, plus $10,000 in hockey equipment from CCM/Reebok. The winning community will also play host to a live exhibition game between two Canadian NHL teams.

Kraft Canada president Dino Bianco says the program has already hit its goal for Kraft, establishing the company as an innovative marketer and allowing them to connect with consumers across multiple touch points including web and in-store. Kraft has even had to re-order in-store displays due to wide retail support and has had inquiries from expat Canuck communities for as far afield as California and even Taiwan. The food giant, which developed the promo via its consumer promotions group, is tracking results via store display audits, web and PR hits. Other Hockeyville partners include Home Depot and the NHL. Media deals were handled by Starcom Mediavest (for Kraft) and Initiative Media (for The Home Depot).

Canada is abuzz with hockey fever and new CBC series Kraft Hockeyville is out to capture the town that exemplifies just that. The seven-part, hour-long show will debut on Wednesday, March 29 at 8 p.m. live from Kingston, Ont. Host Cameron Bancroft will be joined by special guests musician Colin James, actor Jason Priestley and hockey godfather Don Cherry. At the end of the series run, the winning Canuck community will win a $50,000 from the Home Depot for upgrades to the town’s hockey arena, plus $10,000 in hockey equipment from CCM/Reebok. The winning community will also play host to a live exhibition game between two Canadian NHL teams.

Kraft Canada president Dino Bianco says the program has already hit its goal for Kraft, establishing the company as an innovative marketer and allowing them to connect with consumers across multiple touch points including web and in-store. Kraft has even had to re-order in-store displays due to wide retail support and has had inquiries from expat Canuck communities for as far afield as California and even Taiwan. The food giant, which developed the promo via its consumer promotions group, is tracking results via store display audits, web and PR hits. Other Hockeyville partners include Home Depot and the NHL. Media deals were handled by Starcom Mediavest (for Kraft) and Initiative Media (for The Home Depot).